If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Also, as someone not normally annoyed by this kind of thing, the repeated use of "an herb" made me confused, annoyed and then angry. It appears strangely often in the text and I have to pretend that the h is silent with everyone speaking in a midlands accent.

Just finished "The Painted Man" (or The Warded Man in some regions). Not bad, but not great either. Certainly I'll try to get my hands on the second book. Characters plot etc. all range from average to good, but I did have a few niggles. The time lapses in the writing seem a little odd- not between chapters, but every now and then it'll jump forward as though there was once text there, but it got cut to speed up the story.

Also, as someone not normally annoyed by this kind of thing, the repeated use of "an herb" made me confused, annoyed and then angry. It appears strangely often in the text and I have to pretend that the h is silent with everyone speaking in a midlands accent.

Oh man. People who drop the 'h' in 'herb', despite speaking an accent/dialect that never usually drops 'h'es. Don't get me started -.-

Oh man. People who drop the 'h' in 'herb', despite speaking an accent/dialect that never usually drops 'h'es. Don't get me started -.-

I'm sure that had me laughing in DA:O, usually it is because they completely seperate an from 'erb and don't let it flow naturally (I'm very lazy with spoken language).

On topic: Just finished Charles Stross's Halting State a book that I should have probably read ages ago but was put off by the blurb on the back making it sound silly. Being a near future SF novel I'm sure it will probably date horribly over the next few years, but it was written with the likes of RPS readers in mind, without resorting to painfully stopping to explain jargon constantly and maintains a sly, slightly buried humour throughout. Basically it explores how net use has infiltrated day-to-day life and wraps a techno-thriller around augmented and virtually reality games. The use of a second person viewpoint is interesting but works really well, switching between the three main characters between chapters and at no time does the book seem labourious or merely filling pages. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I just finished Unseen Academicals and I must say it certainly wasn't my favorite Discworld book. In fact I think it may be the weakest. I can't remember ever flipping back in previous Prachett books to see if what I was currently reading jived with what came before, but I was doing that all throughout this book. Also, am I wrong or is this the first book to not feature Death?

According to Wikipedia Death is in every book except The Wee Free Men and Snuff (which I have yet to read). Interesting, normally I take note of his appearance but I must have missed it in this one. I guess this may be a symptom of me not normally being as engrossed in a Discworld novel as I usually am.

People who drop their 'H's are the worst. Presumably in a few generations we'll call someone who studies the past "a nistorian". It's napron/apron, nadder/adder, norange/orange all over again, and I hate it.
Grr.

I finished reading PKD's Ubik. I practically devoured it in less than two days. I always thought that PKD's short stories were much better than his novels. I stand corrected. This book was an amazing display of his writing.

I LOVE it. I really hope the future has nistorians. Also nistorectomies, neiroglyphics and nydrogen.

Actually, dropping the 'h' isn't much like the nadder/norange thing. There, you're removing the 'n' from the original noun and giving it to the 'a' to form 'an' due to a slight confusion with the pronunciation. Here it's almost the opposite. You're giving the 'n' from 'an' to the noun and removing the 'h', which is often removed in pronunciation by right-thinking cockneys.